SKA HQ Outreach events

Events

Engaging with the public is part of our commitment towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Below you can see some highlights of our public outreach work from the past few years.

Many of the events we take part in feature members of Team SKA and as such showcase the diversity of the SKA. Take a look at where we’ve been already!

Bluedot, Jodrell Bank, UK – 20-22 July 2018

The SKA team returned to Bluedot festival with fun science and engineering activities in tow, to discuss the project with festival goers and answer any burning questions. SKA Project Scientist Dr. Anna Bonaldi gave a talk to a packed Mission Control venue titled “Bigger, Better, Faster, Further – Back to the Cosmic Origins with the SKA Telescope.”

The biennial EuroScience Open Forum, the largest interdisciplinary science meeting in Europe, took place in Toulouse in 2018 along with its sister event, the public festival Science in the City. Members of the SKA team were on hand all week with educational activities, and welcomed hundreds of people to their stand each day including many youngsters.

SKA Deputy Communications and Outreach Manager Mathieu Isidro delivered a TEDx talk for the local community in the town of Macclesfield, not far from SKA Global Headquarters, titled “How the World is Coming Together to Build a Time Machine.” He also took part in a Q&A session with members of the public after the talk.

Virtual reality took centre stage at the SKA exhibit stand at New Scientist Live, with members of the public gaining a better understanding of the enormity and complexity of the project via the SKA VR headset. Dr. Rosie Bolton, Project Scientist for the SKA Regional Centres, gave a talk titled “The Biggest Eye in Space” which focused on the big data challenges of the project.

Bluedot, Jodrell Bank, UK – 7-9 July 2017

A giant inflatable SKA dish was at the heart of the SKA exhibit for our second outing to the Bluedot science, technology, arts and music festival. SKA engineers and scientists were among those on hand to talk about the project, and there were talks from two SKA project scientists: “The Biggest of Big Data” by Dr. Rosie Bolton, and “Solving the Jigsaw that is the Universe” by Dr. Anna Bonaldi.

Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre’s popular “Girls Night Out” returned to engage and interest girls of all ages in the field of STEM subjects, particularly astronomy. Dr. Anna Scaife was the invited speaker.

The SKA was present for the first ever Bluedot festival, a three-day event exploring the realms of music, science, technology and the arts, taking place at Jodrell Bank. Some 15,000 festival goers attended where they had to opportunity to engage with scientists & engineers working on the SKA. Project Scientist Tyler Bourke also delivered a talk exploring where our Sun came from, and how stars in general are formed.

Science Extravaganza, or ScienceX for short, is an outreach event at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, a major shopping centre which welcomes around 70,000 visitors every weekend. The SKA team was present together with Jodrell Bank Observatory and the University of Manchester, with a range of activities on hand, from the interactive SKA model to a virtual reality headset that offered a tour of the universe at different wavelengths.

Meet the Expert, Jodrell Bank, UK – April 2016

Joe Diamond of the SKA Communications, Outreach and Education team, gave a talk to members of the public providing an overview of the SKA project, and answered their queries in a Q&A afterwards.

YFYA brings together companies that embrace diversity and understand the value a diverse workforce brings to their business. Together with Jodrell Bank, the University of Manchester and STFC, they invited us as part of their event to introduce students to exciting career paths in STEM fields!